Zero Carbon homes

What are Zero Carbon homes?

By 2016, new homes built in the UK must conform to strict new energy efficiency regulations, known as ‘Code Level 6’, or more popularly, Zero Carbon.

Defining 'Zero Carbon' homes

The term ‘Zero Carbon’ house is used with increasing frequency, creating the impression that they are a reality today. In truth, while we have developed very efficient materials and designs, there is no such thing as an absolutely ‘Zero Carbon home’. What’s more, there are still fundamental questions yet to be answered, including what ‘Zero Carbon’ actually means in practice.

There are currently several, contradictory definitions; some require houses to generate their own energy at source to qualify as ‘Zero Carbon’, while other measures consider every facet of a home’s life – even down to the energy consumed to produce the materials used in its construction.

Zero Carbon in the housing industry

Currently, more than 99% of new homes being built would fail to meet the Code Level 6 standard and the house building industry is pressing for clearer guidelines to work towards. Government will be opening a consultation this summer to address this issue.

How large buildings are moving to Zero Carbon

New techniques being used in the design and construction of large non-domestic buildings such as schools, hospitals and offices may point to future developments in house-building.

Some solutions are refreshingly ‘low tech’. For example, to cut the amount of artificial lighting required (and energy consumed), architects are paying more attention to the amount of natural light entering buildings.

Using technology to achieve Zero Carbon

At the other extreme, sophisticated surface coatings and moving blinds linked to a central climate monitoring system control the amount of sunlight hitting and passing through windows, limiting the amount of heat build-up inside a building and reducing the need for power-hungry air-conditioning. Waste water – from rainwater storage tanks and bathrooms – can also be used to cool the interior. The heat that is generated is either vented (in summer) or circulated (in winter).

Moving construction off-site

The way buildings are constructed is changing too, with more being done ‘off site’. This not only cuts waste (typically large amounts of construction products are thrown away, unused, at the end of a job), it will allow engineers to design buildings with greater accuracy – further reducing energy losses.